This is not going to be another tale of the boy who cried wolf. It is going to be a fairy tale where dreams come true – because it looks as if there really is something happening on the multi-million-pound Broadmead extension.
Bristol city planners are due to give their final decision on the outcome of a CPO inquiry in two weeks. A nod from the ODPM last November, coupled with a strong recommendation from the government office planning inspector, Wendy Burden, suggests their decision will be favourable.
This means work could start this summer on the £500m city-centre scheme – a 1.5m sq ft mixed-use project with 1m sq ft of retail and leisure. It promises to be the knight in shining concrete to rescue Bristol’s ailing retail offer.
The possibility of an extension to Broadmead was written about in EG as far back as 1975. Since then, the idea has suffered several setbacks and false starts, provoking commentators to dub it the “Broadmead debacle”.
Things changed in 1998, however, with the opening of the 725,000 sq ft The Mall at Cribbs Causeway, just five miles outside Bristol city centre. As Andy Capes, partner in retail at Hartnell Taylor Cook, puts it: “That was the kick that Bristol city needed, particularly with John Lewis leaving the city centre to take up residence at the new centre.”
The kick was duly felt. In 2000, plans for the Broadmead extension were finally drawn up when developers Hammerson and Land Securities got together with Morley Fund Management and Henderson Global Investors – with the blessing of Bristol council – to form the Bristol Alliance.
Things started well. In December 2002, the Broadmead scheme was granted outline permission by Bristol City Council. The 1.5 m sq ft development included a 140,000 sq ft anchor store, plus additional shops, cafés, offices, restaurants and flats.
Setbacks to the project
The Alliance then hit unforeseen problems. Henderson Global Investors, which had a 25% stake in the scheme, dropped out in 2002, saying it wanted to shift to lower-risk portfolios with more security for policyholders.
Then last year, the proposed anchor, Selfridges, dropped out following a takeover of the department store company and a re-evalutation of its expansion plans. A further blow came in the autumn when Marks & Spencer, which had stepped in as anchor, also pulled out.
The withdrawals did not help a scheme that was already going through a lengthy CPO process involving 26 objections. “There’s no doubt the delay in starting has led to a deterioration of the retail offer in Broadmead,” says Chris Thomas, retail partner at Hartnell Taylor Cook. But he adds that the Alliance cannot be blamed for the loss of the two anchor tenants. “Mixed-use schemes of the size of Broadmead are fraught with potential for delay, and this has been compounded by the withdrawal of the anchors,” he explains.
Good news, however, came in February this year, when House of Fraser signed up to become the scheme’s new 170,000 sq ft anchor tenant. “We’ve got a fantastic department store now,” says Philip Vaughan, project director at Bristol Alliance, although he concedes that it has “taken a bit of time to get there”.
“We are expecting a decision from the inquiry to be on our side. The secretary of state’s letter in November was pretty clear, and the inspector recommended us,” he says.
According to research firm Experian, the Broadmead extension will take Bristol’s retail offer into the UK’s top 10. Zara, HMV, Borders and the various Arcadia brands that include TopShop, Bhs and Wallis are all being associated with the Broadmead extension.
However, the damage inflicted on Bristol’s retail market by the delays at Broadmead is shown in the city’s retail rents. As Lambert Smith Hampton’s Kate Edwards points out, Bristol has the lowest rents in the country for a city of its size. Prime zone As in Broadmead barely top £180 per sq ft, while at Cribbs Causeway they are £300 per sq ft.
In retrospect, should a smaller scheme that would have got off the ground earlier have been considered? The resounding answer from Bristol agents is no. Chris Wright, a director at local agent Osmond Tricks, says: “Bristol needs to be in the top 10 of British cities, and the danger of providing a smaller scheme is that it wouldn’t have had that effect. Bristol needs to be able to compete with the likes of Cardiff and Birmingham.”
With the Broadmead extension on the verge of going ahead, a new challenge has emerged – that of ensuring Bristol does not become a city with split retail areas. “There’s no point in having a new shopping centre at one end of Broadmead,” says Wright. “It could make the rest of Broadmead look tired.”
Most agents agree. And many are worried that that the existing, rather tatty Broadmead centre will get even tattier once the planned extension has been built and retailers relocate.
Broadmead BID formed
To prevent this happening, the South West of England Development Agency, Broadmead Shopping & Leisure and Bristol council have formed the Broadmead BID with the object of ensuring that, after the extension of Broadmead, “the look and feel of the existing Broadmead environment is of a quality that attracts shoppers”. It says “improvements have to be made to achieve this”.
Other agents are worried about how the Broadmead extension will affect Cribbs Causeway. “It has to be a worry to The Mall,” says Capes. “You will have 1m sq ft of space in the extension playing against 740,000 sq ft at The Mall. As long as the Alliance gets its tenant mix right, people will want to come back into Bristol to shop. Meanwhile, The Mall has limited space to expand its offer.”
In response, The Mall’s agent, Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker, highlights Cribbs’ “comprehensive offer”. CWHB’s Justin Taylor says: “The Mall has 1.5m sq ft of high-quality retail and leisure space. We therefore see its future extremely positively.”
Nigel Gibbons, head of retail at Alder King, agrees. “Broadmead and Cribbs will live side by side. Cribbs has a catchment of 4m-5m people, whereas Broadmead will serve the needs of Bristol’s residents and office workers.”
Right now, what all of Bristol wants is summed up by HTC’s Thomas. “The sooner the Alliance starts on site, the better.” Then it will be a happy ending to the fairy tale.
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1975 The need for an extension to Broadmead was written about in an EG article 2000 Broadmead Alliance formed as a joint venture between Hammerson and Land Securities 2002 Application for outline planning permission granted. Henderson Global Investors withdraws from the project 2003 Detailed planning application submitted to Bristol council.The Alliance wins planning permission for the Quakers Friars element of the development 2004 Inquiry into CPO opens in June. Proposed anchor tenant Selfridges withdraws from the scheme, followed by Marks & Spencer. In November, ODPM approves the scheme 2005 Department store House of Fraser signs up as anchor tenant in February. Decision expected imminently on CPO inquiry |
